The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Frey Funeral Home celebrates 75 years
The year 2018 has been a season of celebration for a family owned business that helps other families deal with the loss of their loved ones.
The Walter A. Frey Funeral Home, 700 W. Erie Ave., has spent 75 years in the center of Lorain.
In the fall, the funeral home and three neighboring residential homes were advertised for auction, but the sale of the land was postponed indefinitely, said Walter A. Frey Jr., funeral director and second generation owner of the family business.
Instead, the funeral home remains in business for its anniversary and beyond, said the 65-year-old Frey.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to be there for 75 years,” he said. “I think that’s really important. It’s been a privilege, definitely, to have been there.”
For the anniversary, Frey wrote a family history and reflected on their goal to offer dignified tributes to people have died and for their loved ones who survive.
The funeral home has been non-denominational, but Frey said his family has had a prayerful attitude and willingness to work with people of all faiths.
The family has tried to be good listeners who offer genuine sympathy. Over the years they have helped celebrate the lives of the deceased while helping survivors overcome their grief, Frey said.
“It’s a heartfelt service, definitely,” he said. “I think the big thing is, it’s an honor to be in the business and it’s a privilege to be able to serve people.”
The funeral home remains rich in family history.
There are portraits of his grandmother, Molly Frey, and his parents, Walter A. and Helen Frey. A display case contains the ceramic figurines of courtly ladies that were made by Helen Frey.
His father, Walter A. Frey, was 23 when he came to Lorain with his parents, Molly and Armin Frey.
“They discovered a city which was diversified and blessed with an abundance of industry,” Frey said. “The community was welcoming to this industrious, compassionate funeral director and embalmer who had a passion to serve the needs of those whose loved ones passed away.”
Even as a boy, Walter A. Frey dreamed of being a funeral director, his son said.
Later he had his apprenticeship in the Brown-Forward Funeral Home in Chagrin Falls which did services for some of Cleveland’s leading industrialists, Frey said.
“The funeral home would arrange the services in tremendous mansions where the Cleveland Orchestra could play for the funerals,” Frey said. “It was this background which led Mr. Frey to establish the most outstanding funeral home of its time.”
The location of the Walter A. Frey Funeral Home was the site of one of the first funeral parlors in the Ohio territory, Frey said.
It was built in 1879 as the funeral director’s personal residence, Frey said. The property to the west of the residence was the gardens with the stables to the rear, he said.
Walter A. Frey bought the home and remodeled it, Frey said.
“With love and a high degree of professionalism, Mr. Frey diligently strived to make his funeral home one which would positively touch those whom he served,” his son said. “The love and tenderness which was extended to those served by Mr. Frey in his early years has been omnipresent for the past 75 years.”
Walter A. Frey offered highly professional but tender service, becoming the model for his own practice, Frey said.
Walter A. Frey met Helen Marie Super, his future wife, at a funeral he conducted for her uncle, Frey said.
“She had trepidation for funerals and had not considered a future with Mr. Frey,” Frey said.
But Walter A. Frey pursued her, convincing her to come back to Lorain from Hollywood, where she had been offered a contract with Music Corporation of America. They married in 1949, Frey said, and Helen Marie Frey worked on hairdressing and make-up for the funeral home.
Frey grew up in the funeral home. He graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science became a licensed funeral director and embalmer in 1974.
Frey also graduated from the Northern Institute of Cosmetology and earned a degree in psychology from Oberlin College where did studies pertaining to grief and death.
Frey and his wife, Spring, lived at the funeral home for two years, but moved when their first daughter was born so the family would have a yard to play in. The couple now has two grown daughters, Allison and Holliston.
Frey thanked Gregory P. Godorhazy, the funeral director and embalmer who conducts services. Godorhazy has preserved the continuity of the business, he said.
“We always strive to be outstanding,” Frey said. “Because in the funeral profession I don’t believe there’s any room for just being merely excellent. You have to be outstanding in what you do because people remember the little details. That’s always a big point.”